"Opportunistic Care": A Focus Group Study of Nurses' Perspective on Caring for Long-term Cancer Survivors and Their Families.

BACKGROUND: The global population of long-term cancer survivors is increasing, thanks to advances in treatments and care. Healthcare systems are working to address the unique needs of these individuals. However, there remains a knowledge gap concerning nurses' view on cancer survivorship care. OBJECTIVE: To identify nurses' perspective of care for long-term cancer survivors and their families. METHODS: This qualitative descriptive study used 5 focus groups comprising 33 nurses from primary healthcare and specialized oncology care. Data analysis was conducted through thematic analysis, and the study received ethical approval. RESULTS: Long-term cancer survivors and their families often remained unrecognized as a distinct group within the healthcare system. Consequently, nurses provide what can be termed as "opportunistic care" during nurse-survivor encounters, addressing health needs beyond the purpose of the initial healthcare visit. This absence of a systematic or structured approach for this patient group has prompted nurses to seek the establishment of a comprehensive framework through survivorship care plans, thus ensuring a continuum of care for this specific population. CONCLUSION: The lack of a structured approach to caring for long-term cancer survivors and their families, often invisible as a distinct population group, results in nurses providing care on an opportunistic basis. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: It is crucial to develop and implement survivorship care plans tailored to this population's needs. Simultaneously, it is important to advance research in this area and establish an educational framework for nurses, enabling them to effectively address the care of long-term cancer survivors and their families.

Are Nursing Interventions Effective in Improving Quality of Life in Cancer Survivors? A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Cancer survivors (CSs) have needs that can negatively impact their quality of life (QoL). Oncology nurses play a key role in providing comprehensive care in cancer survivorship, although little is known about their impact on health outcomes. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of nursing interventions to improve QoL and satisfaction with care of CSs. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted. PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Cochrane databases were searched for experimental studies. The Joanna Briggs Institute Checklist for Randomized Controlled Trials was used to verify the quality of the studies (Prospero reference: CRD42020148294). RESULTS: Of the 8 clinical trials eligible for inclusion, 5 demonstrated that interventions conducted by nurses improved the overall QoL or some of its domains in CSs. The included studies focused on short-term survival; no studies in long-term CSs were identified. Two studies assessed satisfaction with care of survivors, obtaining positive results. CONCLUSIONS: Nursing interventions seem to improve the QoL of short-term CSs. However, because of the low number of studies identified, the findings of this systematic review should be interpreted with caution. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Further studies are necessary to strengthen the implementation of effective nursing intervention in cancer practice. Research should particularly be conducted with long-term CSs as there is lack of data on this specific stage of cancer.

Role of the nurse in the design, delivery, monitoring and coordination of cancer survivorship care plans: An integrative review.

AIM: Survivorship care plans (SCPs) are recommended as a tool for the care of cancer survivors. SCPs have been implemented with a multidisciplinary approach; however, the specific role of nurses in the SCP is unknown. Our aim is to determine the role of nurses and their degree of participation in cancer SCPs. DESIGN: Integrative review of the literature with systematic methodology. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Cochrane and Cancerlit databases were reviewed. Articles published up to March 2021 were included. REVIEW METHOD: Of the 2,638 publications identified, 22 studies met our inclusion criteria. Quality of included studies was assessed using Joanna Briggs Institute quality assessment tools. RESULTS: The studies showed that nurses play a key role and participate in different phases of the SCP, including design, delivery, monitoring and coordination among different levels of care, with varying degrees of involvement and responsibility; design and delivery of the SCP are the phases with the highest nurse participation (18 out of 22 studies). The majority of SCPs are implemented in specialized, hospital-based care and focus on short-term cancer survivors, who are actively undergoing oncological treatments. CONCLUSION: This review shows that nurses actively participate in the design, implementation and coordination of SCPs. However, SCPs focus on the acute survival and treatment phases, and there is a gap in their use in long-term cancer survivorship. This gap may be one reason the needs of long-term cancer survivors are not covered. IMPACT: This review contributes to the current body of knowledge by addressing the role of nurses in cancer SCPs. We recommend the involvement of an advanced practice nurse as SCP coordinator to improve communication between cancer specialists and primary care providers and to promote continued care throughout the different phases of cancer survivorship, including long-term survival.

Educational methods used in cancer training for health sciences students: An integrative review.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the educational methods used in the cancer training of undergraduate students in health sciences. DESIGN: Integrative review with a systematic methodology was performed to obtain a comprehensive picture of the variety of educational methods used in cancer training. DATA SOURCES: A search was performed in the PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Cochrane databases for the period 2008-2020. REVIEW METHODS: The Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) was used to assess the quality of included studies. Three reviewers extracted data and did quality appraisal. RESULTS: A total of 40 articles referring to cancer training in medicine and nursing were included in the review; no articles referring to other health disciplines were found. The main educational methods used were expository methods, case studies, exercises and problems, problem-based learning, learning contracts and project-oriented learning. CONCLUSION: This review shows the need to combine educational methods so that health sciences students acquire competency (knowledge, skill, attitude) for comprehensive cancer care. There is a gap in the training of undergraduate nursing students to provide person/family centered care in oncology. To improve the training and professional practice of future health professionals, interprofessional education and the involvement of people with cancer in simulation education are recommended.